If I was 100% completely honest with you, I would have to tell you that I could probably go back over the manuscript another 3 or 4 times, but I'm not going to do it. I'm LEAVING IT alone, and if that means there are mistakes, then that's the way it will have to be. I'm just done. I've read the book "Of Kilted Pleasure" more than a dozen times from start to finish. I've been pouring over it, trying to find the tiny mistakes and I know (I just know) there are a few. I can't do it again. I really should pay for an editor, but hey, where is the fun in that?
Here's the thing. I am a human. I really am a basic individual. I write. I have money to publish, but not always to have the thing edited. When I had one or two things looked at for editing (back in the day) they wanted to change the story, change the plot, change this or that. I didn't write this or that. I wrote what I wrote. I have always been that way. Even in High School, when my creative writing teacher tried to tell me it would sound better if....I told her to write it if she preferred it that way. I asked her to think about grading it as if she wasn't trying to make me do things HER way. If she gave me anything less than an "A" I took it straight to the principal to claim she was discriminating against me for being a great writer and she was envious. YES, I have always been a writing diva. The good news is, I'll leave your work alone. I won't try to ask you to write like I do. Have I won awards? Yes. I have won money, awards, scholarships, and other things. I don't talk about it because I think writing is too subjective to be pigeonholed. I took the money because I needed it but I NEVER gave my words to the buyer. NO ONE uses my words except me. THEY ARE MINE.
That being said. I am selling my books for people to read, but no one can say they wrote "Of Kilted Pleasure" or anything else I wrote. In a very real sense, I created Aria, Ewan, Antoin (even though I fashioned Antoin using someone) and I created the plot, the story, the events, the places and the situations. No one gave me hints or clues; not even suggestions. I didn't know what I was going to write when I sat down to do the book. I knew Aria would have an imagined lover Craig Allan Mackenzie, and that's about it. Craig, by the way, is my personal imagined lover, we've been "married" for over 35 years. The Craig in the book is NOT the Craig in my mind. My Craig is rounder, and more robust. He's older, and he burps. I'm getting to the point that I can actually understand one out of every 40 words he says too. My Scots Gaelic is getting so much better. "Tha mi aon cu agam". It is true, I have one dog.
So, the book is now sent off to the publisher. I'm not going to tweak it again. It is done. You get what you get, and if you go through it and find mistakes, please email me to let me know. I love that. I know, some people would hate it, but I love it. It keeps me humble. I am having a fit with the illustrator at the moment, but it will work itself out, I'm sure. I paid for Level 3 and they sent me their rendition of what it should look like but they used a Level 1 drawing, of what can ONLY be described as a cartoon...a coloring book illustration. I'll post it. I won't go into the battle I'm waging at the moment, but I know I'll hoist my flag soon enough. This old Southern wet hen won't stop pecking at their legs until I get my way. It's my money. It's my book. I won't even apologize for feeling that way. I'm not Canadian.
In about six weeks or so the book should be ready to buy online. I'd love to have control over what they charge, but again, I really don't. I think I'll try to get them to have it on sale for $1.99 a download for the first month, that way it can get out there. I think that's fair. The downloads are usually $5.99-7.99 on Kindle and the paperback will be $19.00-21.00. I'm not doing a hardcover option on this book. It's a romance novel, come on!! I think the Kindle is the way to go, it's cheaper, at your fingertips, and you can make the font bigger. OH...that's a good point to make; I did make the font bigger. I told them to make it 12 point, not 11. It makes a HUGE difference when you're reading it, and I used THIS font, which is GEORGIA. They had not done a book in Georgia before. I am the first. There you go! It's just an easier wider font. I like it. I hope you do too.
Whew. Done. Well, the manuscript is. Now we fight for the lovers to be painted and not displayed as something a child would take a crayon to. Geez!
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